Listening
by darkcyan
Summary: Tanuma remembered to slip on his glasses as they approached Taki's house. Both of them, he suspected, were a bit disappointed that he didn't see anything. (Sequel to "Sight")


**Warnings:** Brief spoilers through volume 16 (chapter 65)

This story is the third in my "Tanuma in glasses" series, following after "Glasses" and "Sight".

It is also my annual birthday fic for Tanuma. Alas, I've once again failed to post _actually_ on September 17th. So … happy belated birthday, Tanuma!

# # # Listening # # #

A few weeks after Natsume found out, a few days after he finally started wearing his glasses in public, Kaname ran into Taki on the way back from the supermarket.

"Tanuma, hi!" she called, dashing up to him with a package tucked under one arm. "It's been a while."

"Hey," Kaname said. When she blinked, looking briefly disconcerted, he remembered that she hadn't seen his glasses before.

Now that both Natsume and his dad knew – he'd forgotten that they weren't the only important people in his life.

"They look good on you," Taki said, a bit awkwardly. "Have you needed them long?"

"They're just glass." He'd have taken them off to show to her, but with grocery bags in both arms, it would have been a bit difficult. "So I can see youkai better." The words felt strange, said in broad daylight in the middle of town, even if Taki was the only other person in earshot.

Taki brightened. "I think I read about that! The glass focuses your power, right?" For a moment, she almost looked wistful. "Does Natsume know?"

Kaname nodded. "He … wasn't happy," he said, smiling wryly at the understatement, and braced himself against the pain echoing in his memory of their fight.

They hadn't really talked much, since. Kaname knewhe was being too sensitive; Natsume responded about the same as always when they did talk, and it's not like they'd talked all that frequently before.

But he still couldn't help but feel like he'd driven a wedge between them.

"I can imagine," Taki said, startling Kaname out of his thoughts. "Um. Have you … seen anything?"

"A few things," Kaname said. "There are a lot of youkai in the forest, but most of the time they avoid me, so I only see flashes here and there. A few smaller ones living at the edge of the temple grounds seem to be adjusting to my presence, though," he said. "And I feed the fish sometimes – there are a couple of koi ponds back behind the temple."

"Youkai koi?" Taki asked.

"Strange, right? I don't know for certain that they are – they haven't talked to me or anything – but they're not visible without my glasses, so …"

"And the pond isn't, either?" Taki asked. "That's so interesting! I think I've read about places like that before, but –" She stopped as they reached a cross street. "Oh, I'm turning here." She smiled up at Kaname. "It was good to see you again. Be careful, with the glasses?"

"I will," Kaname said.

#

"You're not wearing them to school?" Taki asked. They stood near one of the windows just outside Kaname's classroom, idly watching the soccer team practice. Kaname had stayed late to help clean, and it appeared Taki had done the same. "Why not?"

"… I guess mostly because I don't really want to explain it," Kaname said after a moment. "Silly, huh? Probably no one would even ask." He wasn't _that_ close to most of his classmates, and Kitamoto didn't really seem like the sort to. Nishimura might.

"I don't know about that," Taki said, her smile mischievous. "You might be surprised how much interest your female classmates have in them."

Kaname made a face. "That sounds awkward."

Taki laughed, clearly unsympathetic. "Oh, I wanted to give you this." She pulled a small sachet from her schoolbag. "I'm not sure how helpful it'll be, but it's supposed to provide general protection."

"If you're sure?" Kaname said, accepting it from her. "You really didn't have to."

"I wanted to," she said. "It's all –" She stopped and shook her head. "Never mind. Have you seen anything else interesting lately?"

Kaname glanced around. The corridor was mostly empty. "Well, as I was crossing the river this morning ..."

#

Preoccupied, Kaname almost didn't see Taki as he passed through the school gates. "Oh! Are you waiting for someone?"

The grounds were mostly empty – he'd stayed late to ask the teacher a question about some of the material he'd missed.

"For you, actually," she said with a wry smile. "I was beginning to wonder if I'd missed you, or if you'd gotten sick again. Your cold's better now?"

"Yep, completely healthy." Kaname smiled back. "Sorry I kept you waiting for so long. Did you need something?"

He and Taki talked a lot more, now, but usually only during breaks, or occasionally when they ran into each other in town on Sundays. She lived in the opposite direction, so it didn't make any sense to walk home even part of the way together.

"That large tree youkai you said you saw in the forest –" Taki said.

"It didn't make me sick – this really was just a cold," Kaname said. A couple of times he'd encountered – thankfully only at a distance – youkai whose presence affected his health. Not as badly, or as frequently as when he was a child, but still more than before he'd started wearing the glasses.

It was worth it.

"Good to know," she flashed a grin, "but actually, I was going to say – I think I found some notes in my grandfather's storehouse that mentioned it." She paused, and added with unusual hesitance, "If you wanted to, I thought you might be interested in coming over and taking a look at it?"

"That would be great!" Kaname said immediately. "If you don't mind?"

"Not at all." The genuine pleasure on her face reassured Kaname at least as much as her words. "Um, it's this way."

"… I really do appreciate it," he said several minutes later. "I want to know more about the youkai I've see, but I've never been quite sure where to start looking. I got a few books out of the library, but mostly they just talk about the ones everyone knows, so."

Taki nodded. "I think that's part of why my grandfather started traveling so much," she said. "So that he could gather all the stories that _haven't_ been written down, or at least not all in one place. I'd like …" she hesitated, and glanced over at Kaname. "I'd like to publish them all someday. Somehow."

"That would be really neat," Kaname said. "I'd buy a copy."

Taki laughed. "Thanks. I'm not sure I'll ever manage it, though. There's so much …"

"I'm sure you will," Kaname said.

He remembered to slip on his glasses as they approached Taki's house. Both of them, he suspected, were a bit disappointed that he didn't see anything.

He managed not to freak out at the kokeshi guarding the storehouse this time, and they took the hand-bound journal Taki picked up back into the house. After pointing him towards the relevant page, Taki disappeared into the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks, despite Kaname's protestations that doing so was unnecessary.

By the time she got back, Kaname had read the following four pages as well, and was staring at a wholly unfamiliar sketch surrounded by cramped handwriting that was beginning to feel familiar. He looked up, a bit guiltily. "I hope you don't mind that I kept reading?"

"Of course not!" Taki leaned in. "But could you shift it a bit this way, so I can see too? I haven't read the last half yet."

"Oh! Of course."

They read in companionable silence for a while. Kaname sipped at his tea – green, and brewed far better than he usually had the patience for.

Taki put her cup down with a decisive _clack_. Startled, he looked up.

" _Thank you_ ," she said, far more forcefully than usual.

"For what?" he asked.

"For …" she hesitated. "For _this_. For telling me things, even when they're scary. For including me. Even though I can't … I won't ever be able to share what you see."

"But you have the circle," Kaname said. "If you use that, you can see far better than I'll ever be able to."

Taki shook her head. "Natsume … well, Fluffy-sensei, actually. He said that my circle is some sort of mystical, forbidden technique in the exorcist world. It sounded like I could get into a lot of trouble for using it." She laughed, suddenly. "I suppose I learned that the hard way, even without any exorcists involved."

Kaname shivered, remembering hearing about how Taki had met Natsume. "I'm really glad you're both all right," he said. "I'm surprised –"

He stopped. Even as the words left his mouth, he realized they weren't true. He _wasn't_ surprised Taki was still interested in learning more about youkai. He might have never had to deal with anything quite like what she had – he wasn't sure he'd have been able to bear an entire year of that sort of dread – but he _could_ have died at Omibashira's mansion.

And the longer he spent seeking out youkai, the more likely he was to land in a similar situation again.

But he'd told Natsume, hadn't he? It was worth it.

And now Taki was cut off from the only means she had of seeing youkai. "That must be really frustrating," he said instead. "I'm – I feel like I'd be so jealous, I wouldn't be able to bear it. If you want, I'll try to stop shoving it in your face …"

" _No_ ," she said. " _Please_ don't." A sigh. "Yes, it's frustrating, and I do get jealous sometimes, even though I try hard not to, but …" she looked towards the door. "It's hard, knowing there's _so much_ out there that I can't see. That I'll never be able to see. But …" she looked back at Kaname. "Hearing your stories … it makes me feel a little bit less alone. It's not as good as being able to see them myself, but it's _something_. So. Please."

"Okay," Kaname said. "I will. Um. I mean, I won't. Wait –"

Taki grinned. "I know what you mean. … And thanks. It means a lot to me."

It meant a lot to Kaname, too.

He stared through the journal sitting open in front of them, turned to a sketch of yet another youkai he'd never heard of before. (And kind of hoped he'd never see – it had a truly concerning number of very sharp looking teeth.)

"Would you mind …" he said hesitantly, "if I come by and read more of your grandfather's research sometimes? Only the stuff you want me to, of course! But …" he gestured helplessly "even though I can see a bit better now, I still don't really know much about _what_ I'm seeing, a lot of the time. And … I want to know all of that, _too_."

There was just so much he _didn't_ know. Even now.

Taki slowly smiled. "I think my grandfather would have liked that," she said quietly. "I would, too. You're welcome any time."


End file.
